


My Helios, My Apollo

by cherrylng



Category: Muse (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Victorian, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Death from Old Age, Established Relationship, Fluff, Historical Fantasy, M/M, Major Character Undeath, Old Age, Spirits, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-16 02:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14802632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrylng/pseuds/cherrylng
Summary: Chris Wolstenholme finds his old friend who has been living with his family for the past few years near the end of his life. When Matt made a last request to go to the beach, neither Chris nor his son expected for what they encountered when they arrived there...





	My Helios, My Apollo

**Author's Note:**

> So, what do you get when you get a Belldom plot idea airdropped into your brain for the first time in more than half a year, a lot of energy in you, and a strong determination to finish it before the end of the month? You get a short story at nearly 5.9k in word count after almost 60 hours spent on a bender to write it all down. Enjoy and comment!

Teignmouth is not the place that Christopher Wolstenholme is born to, but it was the place that he was raised up from since his childhood. And Teignmouth later became the place that he had settled down with his wife, Kelly, to raise their children up. Although he setted up his shipping trade business in Plymouth which meant rising up early and going back home by the evening to go to work, and has to go to London once a month to talk to banks and check his stock and meet some friends staying in the capital city, his home is still the little seaside town that he grew up in.  
  
After growing old, retiring and handling his business trade over to his eldest son, Chris Wolstenholme still prefers to have a daily routine. He spends his mornings doing light work such as reading the newspapers, checking and replying to letters, takes walks around the town in the afternoon to keep himself fit and healthy, and goes home for dinner with his family. Whenever possible, he gets his whole family to plan on trips out to the beach or to London.  
  
Around dinner time, Chris and his wife would see his son Alfie and his wife (the rest of his children having since left the nest due to their jobs or marriage) as the tableware is being set up. They wait until the maidservant or one of the younger family members would wheel in Matt Bellamy, an old friend of Chris’ and now honourary family member to the Wolstenholmes, to join the rest of the family for the evening meal time.  
  
Matt is the same as him. Born from somewhere else in England, but raised in Teignmouth before spending his adulthood out of the small seaside town to do work and travel around the world. There were quite a number of letters that Chris had received over the years from Matt coming from different parts of the world.   
  
And like Chris, he chose to retire and settle down at the place of his childhood when he came back. But several years ago, he sold his house to move in with the Wolstenholmes due to loneliness and age having him unable to take care of himself, and the family welcomed him in.  
  
Once everyone is seated and a short prayer is made, they dig in to the food.  
  
There are the occasional times, however, when Chris takes a pause from going through the motions of his routine to look around and his thoughts turn introspective.   
  
He looks at himself and then at Matt as he eats his dish of roast beef and vegetables. They are both older and frailer, their hairs grey and their hairlines receding. It is a stark contrast from their days as young men. Only for Chris, Matt seems so much more physically weaker than he is and so much smaller, and they are the same age. Matt has been in a wheelchair for over the past two years since after he moved in with the Wolstenholme family, while Chris merely needed a walking cane to keep his balance steady.   
  
The past few weeks have been one of worry for Chris and his family, knowing that from the several signs that they have seen on Matt, they must prepare for Matt’s passing soon. His appetite has been light and the several other signs are getting more and more noticeable, but no one is sure of when Death would make its arrival. All that can be done for now is to check that the funeral expenses are covered for and to make the rest of Matt’s remaining time a comfortable one.  
  
After supper, he and Matt and Kelly would spend their time either in the drawing room or at the back garden, whiling away their time before going to bed. It may seem like a boring activity to do on a routine, but they are fine with it and are content to spend their time that way.  
  
Today, for the evening, Kelly is spending time in another room with her grandchildren while Chris and Matt are talking of the comings and going ons that they read from the newspapers lately.   
  
It never gets boring even if the news never stops talking of what feels like the same things that they’ve encountered over their whole lives. There’s always a war going on, with Britain involved with it or not. There’s always social unrest as society marches on to shun the old practices. There’s always new scientific discoveries and inventions for mankind to divulge on. There’s always the dangers of thieves stealing from travelers. There’s always a new island or landmass being discovered for potential colonisation for the British Empire and other empires. Both men have outlived three Kings and now have a Queen as their monarch for decades, but the world is still the same.  
  
They take a break from talking for a cup of tea. Matt sighs as he enjoys his cup of tea and the warmth coming from the fireplace, the burning logs making crackling sounds that fills the silence.  
  
It feels just like any other day for Chris Wolstenholme. But with a seemingly normal day like this, is when change makes its abrupt appearance.  
  
“It’ll be soon now,” Matt said suddenly.  
  
“Pardon?” Chris asked, putting his tea away by the table to avoid breaking the bone china and to be sure that he had heard his friend clearly there.  
  
Matt turns to where Chris’ voice is and gives a soft smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he does so.  
  
“I’ll be seeing him soon, Chris.”  
  
Chris cannot fathom who Matt is referring to, but he knows that Matt is most certainly not talking about his father or his older brother, both men having passed away years ago. But considering their younger days when Matt traveled abroad, it’s not too far-fetched to assume that Matt had met someone that he fancied in his younger years. And from what Matt is saying, that man may have sadly left the mortal world very early on.  
  
It wasn’t talked about openly, but in their younger years Chris has had heard the rumours over the years that focused on his lifelong friend whenever he is in London or spending time with people who know of Matt’s adventures. Chris has heard his fair share of the gentlemen and the ladies gossiping about Matt’s fancy for men and how his eyes can’t seem to stray away from a handsome gentleman.  
  
The fact that Matt has been unmarried his whole life only made the rumours strengthened and continued on for decades.   
  
Matt seemingly ignores the rumours whenever he is back in London, neither confirming nor denying what is said about him. The only rumour that Matt had to personally break is that of him visiting male clubs and Molly-houses. The physical proof alone is the fact that the brunet never did get the diseases that could have commonly made him be associated with those that use the services of brothels.  
  
It was only when Matt was past his prime age and his social presence in London and any gentlemen’s clubs that he’d joined was gone once he retired that people no longer care to continue with it. After all, there is always another fresh young man or woman to be the next new target for gossip.  
  
Still, to hear the confirmation from Matt that he loves men can finally quell the question that haunts Chris for a large amount of his adult life.  
  
There isn’t much for Chris to think deeply of it. To put it succinctly, he doesn’t give a damn. They are old men now. And as much as Chris hates to admit it, Matt is the one that will leave soon. There is no point in treating such a revelation as a burden or of a troubling thought.  
  
“I’m sure you’ll see him soon,” Chris said, placating to his friend’s whims.  
  
“Don’t say it like that!” Matt snapped, suddenly incensed.  
  
“What do you mean?” Chris asked, bewildered.  
  
“Don’t say it as though he was dead before me, Chris,” Matt replied, which only confounded Chris even more.  
  
“I don’t understand. So is he still alive then, Matt?” Chris asked slowly to be sure that his question wouldn’t accidentally rile his friend up. Fortunately, it didn’t.  
  
“Oh, he’s around,” Matt answered, the cryptic answer leaving more questions than answers.  
  
He finishes his cup of tea and turns his head towards the window.  
  
“What is the moon like outside right now?” Matt asked, changing the subject entirely. “Do you mind checking it for me?”  
  
Chris obliges and takes a few steps towards the window and peers up on the now dark skies.   
  
“It’s a full moon tonight,” Chris answered, staring up at the moon at its fullest and brightest, the light shining brighter than the stars.  
  
From there, Matt makes a bizarre request.  
  
“Can you take me out to the beach today?”  
  
Perhaps it was one of those moments where on the last legs of their lives, those that are on their deathbeds suddenly find and put on the last spark of energy. Chris had seen it happen when he and Matt last met their old friend Thomas Kirk, being energetic and able to sit up to engage talks with his friends on his deathbed a day before he passed away in his sleep. That memory is still fresh in Chris’ mind coming from a few years ago when Matt was still able to stand and walk.  
  
“It’s already dark out there, Matt. Maybe perhaps we can go tomorrow morning?” Chris suggested, hoping to reason his old friend.  
  
Despite his eyes glazed over from cataracts that made his eyesight extremely short and made spectacles useless for him, there’s still a spark behind those blue eyes, one that only deepens Chris’ sense of foreboding.  
  
“Please bring me to the beach, Chris. Just you and me. Today. I’d rather finally be at rest there than on a bed.”  
  
Chris makes a grimacing face. Going out there at this time in a place like Teignmouth is actually safe ever since the town prospered and expanded during the Georgian era, but even then precautions must be taken. But at the same time, he can see that Matt is silently pleading to him to grant him that request.  
  
In the end, Chris finds himself having to agree to the request. Who was he to ignore a dying man’s wish? Especially coming from a lifelong friend?  
  
“At least let me get Alfie. I can’t push your wheelchair all the way to that place.”  
  
Matt nods, agreeing to the small compromise as Chris summons the maid to go get his eldest son.  
  
“Come on, son. Let’s take this old man out to the beach,” Chris said to Alfie once he had arrived and the old man went off to get his long coat and cap.  
  
“I’m only older than you by six months,” groused Matt.  
  
After making sure that Matt is clothed warmly, Alfie throws a blanket over his uncle and pushes his wheelchair out. Despite Matt not wanting to make a big attention out of wanting to go to the beach at such this hour of the night, Kelly insists on having herself and the grandchildren present to see them off.   
  
The grandchildren each gave a hug to their granduncle while Alfie’s wife makes sure that the blanket is tucked to Matt’s nice and comfortable. When it was Kelly’s turn, Chris can see her struggling not to cry in front of her family and to Matt as though like her husband, she knew what was coming. It must have taken a lot of strength for his wife to remain composed as she gives a kiss on Matt’s forehead before kissing her husband and son before they left the house.  
  
“To our old beach spot then, Matt?” Chris asked once they start walking down the road.  
  
“Where else would I pick to go on this wheelchair? Go uphill to the Ness cliff?”  
  
“That might be too much, uncle Matt,” Alfie pipes in from behind as he pushes the wheelchair. “Both me and father wouldn’t be able to push you all the way up there.”  
  
Matt laughed in response.  
  
It is a slow walk, especially as Alfie has to be careful on pushing the wheelchair and avoiding potholes on the dirt roads towards their destination, with a couple of oil lamps to light up their path.  
  
Along the way, Chris talks with Matt, partly wanting to be sure that his friend is still capable of speech and thought through the journey, and partly wanting to know about the man that Matt once fell in love with. Alfie listens in to their chat, but doesn’t dare say a word from what he is hearing coming out of Matt’s mouth.  
  
“His name is Dominic,” Matt sighed fondly. “I still can’t believe for how lucky I am to have fallen in love with him all those years ago. I remember how I first met him when I first arrived in Venice. It was only a week before the Carnivale.”  
  
Chris tries to ruminate his mind on when was the first time Matt went to Venice. That first trip that Matt described was more than fifty years ago when he and Matt were in their early twenties.   
  
“We connected right away and he invited me to the Carnivale by the end of the day. You wouldn’t believe it until you see him, Chris, but the first time I met him? I thought he was like a deity walking among us mortals,” Matt said in a breathless, awed voice. “When I fell in love with him, he became my Helios. My Apollo.”  
  
“Waxing lyrical names to describe your lover? Using the names of Greek and Roman gods too?” Chris asked, mirthful.  
  
“You’re not innocent either. You and Kelly have a lot of playful nicknames to each other that I’ve heard around the house,” Matt said, chuckling.  
  
Chris only smiles back. Even if he is merely entertaining a dying man’s thoughts, it is in his opinion a far better way to send his best friend off that way.  
  
“Now where was I… Ah, yes! After Venice, we were apart. I had to leave for Constantinople after the festival. When I arrived at the docks of Galata, who else did I meet but Dominic waiting for me by the dock! From there on, Chris, wherever I go, he would always be there to spend time with me.”  
  
“So he travels around the world with you?” Chris asked.  
  
“No, he doesn’t travel with me all the time,” Matt shook his head, having far more energy than usual to talk so animatedly. “We weren’t always together. He comes and goes in my life as he pleases. Wherever I went to, he is always either ahead of me or appears at the places that I stayed in. Usually he stays for a week or so. Sometimes he stays with me for as long as a month.”  
  
Both Chris and his son looked at each other. Even with what little light shining from the lamp, Chris can see Alfie being just as confused and clueless as he is with the information that they are getting. If anything, this Dominic that Matt met and became lovers with sounds more like a supernatural being than a human. Or maybe a ghost that he’d encountered early on his his travels that Matt came to be fond of.  
  
“He sounds like a lovely man that you were lucky to have found each other,” Chris said after thinking of the most appropriate way to answer what he thinks about Matt’s story.  
  
“Yes, I am. But… it’s been years since we spent more than a day with each other, before I sold the house,” Matt said quietly. And like that, it felt like the winds have stopped blowing and his sails have dropped down. “I really hope to see him before I go.”  
  
Chris and Alfie did not have a clue on what to say, so they only continued on with the journey.  
  
Slowly but surely, they eventually arrive at the beach.  
  
At this time, the beach would be deserted, but the light of the full moon would make its surroundings just visible enough to see to find a place to sit down and rest and… let Matt enjoy his last moments at a location of his picking.  
  
“Father, look!” Alfie suddenly exclaimed, his finger pointing at something in front of them.  
  
Chris looks at where Alfie is pointing and he can hardly believe what he can see.  
  
From the beach, there stands a man looking out at the sea with his back facing Chris’ group. Something is immediately off about this man to both Chris and Alfie as despite the light coming from a full moon, the man’s whole body is glowing in a golden aura. The golden locks of his hair shines brighter than the rest of his body. Whatever he is, he is certainly a greater or supernatural being taking the form of a human.  
  
As they close in on the otherworldly stranger, the man dressed in a casual wear of shirt, vest, trousers and boots finally noticed them and turns around. He looks at them with a calm face and a serene smile and he walks towards them. As he approaches the group of three, Chris took on a defensive stance, keeping Matt behind him. Alfie keeps his hold to the wheelchair, not willing to let go any time soon.  
  
“Don’t be scared of him,” Matt suddenly speaks up to assure Chris and Alfie. “I know who he is.”  
  
“Is he a messenger from the Lord himself?” Alfie asked, keeping a tight grip to the handle of the wheelchair.  
  
At that, Matt gives out a chuckle.  
  
“No, but he is certainly angelic looking, isn’t he?”  
  
“Matt, who is he?” Chris finally asked, suspecting that he knows who that might be.  
  
“The man that I fell in love with,” Matt answered.  
  
Chris looks at the glowing stranger, not scared anymore but still wary nonetheless.  
  
“So you’re Dominic?” Chris asked, his hands folded on top of his walking cane.  
  
The otherworldly being named Dominic simply smiles and nods.  
  
“Yes. And you’re Christopher,” Dominic said. He then points to Alfie. “And I presume that is your eldest son, Alfie?”  
  
Chris couldn’t see what Alfie’s response is, but whatever it is, it does confirm Dominic’s answer.  
  
Silently wondering how Dominic knew of him and his son, Dominic picked up from his silent cue to continue talking.  
  
“Matt talked a lot about you and your family,” he said. “That’s how I came to know of you.”  
  
“How long have you been with Matt?” Chris asked.  
  
“Over five decades by now. We meet from time to time,” Dominic answered simply. He turns tilts his head to look over Chris’ shoulder in order to see Matt. “Can you let me see him?”  
  
Chris stares at Dominic for a bit. From up close, Chris can see that the colour of Dominic’s skin is more bronze than gold, which only seems to highlight the golden shine of his hair more. Oddly enough, his eyes aren’t golden like the rest of his features, rather its colour is in a certain shade of grey that complemented well to his overall handsome appearance.  
  
“He’s on his last legs,” is all that Chris says before standing aside to let Dominic through.  
  
“I know,” Dominic replied back, walking towards the wheelchair.  
  
Once Dominic reaches the wheelchair, he kneels down by Matt’s right hand side and clasps his bony and wrinkled hand.  
  
“Matt,” Dominic spoke quietly.  
  
“Dominic,” Matt said, looking at Dominic with a feeling of happiness and relief. “You came. I knew that my time was coming and knew that you would come.”  
  
“Yes,” Dominic answered, giving Matt a reassuring smile. “And I have promised you that I will come to you for this very moment.”  
  
“I’ve missed you,” Matt said, taking a deep breath. “It’s been too long that we didn’t see each other.”  
  
“I’ve missed you too,” Dominic murmured, thumb stroking over Matt’s hand while his other hand is touching his lover’s face by the cheek. “I’m sorry that I didn’t come see you these past few years. I should’ve visited you more during that time.”  
  
“That’s okay. You’re here now.”  
  
The looks that they share between each other is familiar to Chris in how he sees Kelly. It is the sight of not just romantic love, but also an unconditional and unwavering one as well.   
  
Matt smiles and grips back on Dominic’s hand before he suddenly gives out a round of fitful coughs. They can hear Matt struggling to breathe and this time, it sounds a lot worse than the other times that Chris had encountered. Quickly, Chris is by Matt’s side, patting his back.  
  
“Matt. Matt, I’m here for you,” Chris said frantically. “Are you alright?”  
  
“Dom…” Matt croaked, breathing hard.  
  
Dominic quietly shushes Matt, touching his his to calm him down. “Shhhh don’t strain yourself there, Matt. I’m right here. Relax, my love.”  
  
Looking at Matt and then at Dominic, the grim look on the blond man’s face was more than enough to tell Chris that Matt’s time is coming to its end.  
  
“Father, should we…?” Alfie cuts his question off at the end, unsure of what his question should be and what to do.  
  
“No. We’re staying here, Alfie,” Chris said gravely, shaking his head. “There’s not much time left in him anymore.”  
  
Like Dominic, both Chris and Alfie stay close to Matt, with Chris holding his hand. It isn’t easy to see someone dying, the time spent to witness the dying turn into the dead an agonising wait. Chris feels heavy sorrow even as he strokes Matt’s back to give some attempt to comfort him at this final stage. Alfie could not hold back the tears leaking down on his face. Even Dominic looked in pain having to watch his beloved at the end of his life’s stage.  
  
Matt’s eyes are closed by now, his breathing becoming lighter and slower in its intake. Just as Chris is about to say his goodbye to his dying friend, Dominic holds his hand up to stop Chris.  
  
“It’s time now,” Dominic says quietly.   
  
Dominic clasps his hands tightly on Matt’s and closes his eyes. Then the glow on his body brightens up, and Chris and Alfie watch as the light transfers and envelops the entirety of Matt’s body.   
  
“Come on, Matt. Take my hand,” Dominic murmured, once the light has completely covered over Matt’s body.  
  
Dominic stands up and pulls Matt’s hand. As he does so, there is a glowing being that comes off of Matthew Bellamy’s body as it stands up and off of the body and the wheelchair. After that, Matt’s physical body stops glowing and sits still with his head slumped down, motionless.   
  
But now in front of Chris and his son, stands a white and silver-coloured glowing man next to Dominic, resembling very much like Matt and dressed in the same clothes that his physical body is wearing. It doesn’t take much time for Chris to believe and _know_  that that is Matt, only his appearance is very much younger, looking at around his twenties or thirties. But his hair is not brunet, but rather silver in colour.  
  
Matt looks around. First at Dominic, then at his body on the wheelchair, then back at Dominic.  
  
“It worked then?” Matt asked in shock and disbelief.  
  
“Told you that you can trust me,” Dominic said lightly.  
  
With that, Matt throws himself towards Dominic, their lips meet without hesitation. Holding each other tightly, the two of them share an intimate kiss with their tongues meeting and intertwining. They kissed as though they haven’t seen each other for a long time, which in hindsight, it had been a long time for the two lovers to be able to do that too.  
  
“Oh, Dominic. My Helios. My Apollo,” Matt said when they break away to take a pause. “We’re finally together.”  
  
“You always were the more poetic one. And no, we always have been together,” Dominic chuckled, shaking his head before he returns the kiss.  
  
Someone -namely Alfie- clears their throat, getting the attention of both Dominic and Matt. And then Matt remembers what he was doing with Dominic is considered highly inappropriate in public and he peels himself off of his lover very quickly.  
  
“Sorry you had to see that. You’re… you’re not going to be upset at me for that, are you?” Matt asked, hesitant.  
  
After meeting Dominic the other worldly being who glows like the colours of the sun, having to see his best friend die in front of him, and then see Dominic coaxing Matt’s spirit to come out from his body, frankly, the kiss became the least of the weirdest things for an old man like Chris to see in the span of less than a day.  
  
Chris steadies himself with his walking cane, staring at the now spirit-like Matt, the whitish-silver glow emanating from his whole body only highlighting his pale skin and new hair colour. And a part of Chris can’t help but say it out loud, knowing that there is an opportunity right in front of him to seize.  
  
“I’m finding it more odd that you have silver hair despite looking decades younger now,” Chris said, pointing out the one thing that Matt himself wouldn’t have noticed without a mirror to see it.  
  
“My hair? Silver?” Matt ruffles his hair, trying to spot a lock of it to confirm Chris’ words. Once he sees it, he turns to Dominic. “Why is my hair silver?”  
  
“It’s not something that you can decide, much less how the colour of your light is different from mine,” Dominic explained. He brushes his hand over his lover’s hair. “It looks good on you, though.”  
  
“I’d thought I still have my brunet hair,” Matt murmured.  
  
“Still, you are beautiful,” Dominic said, kissing Matt’s cheek. Then he starts to giggle. “I’ve just thought of something.”  
  
“What is it?”  
  
“You called me your Helios, your Apollo. Your form shines like the colour of the moon. Would that make you my Selene? My Diana?” Dominic asked, his voice laced with amusement and humour.  
  
Matt’s face furrows into a confused scowl, unsure if he likes having those names to be endeared to him by his lover.  
  
“You did die under a full moon, Matt,” Chris pointed out. His eyes looked up at the moon. “Perhaps by the chance and the timing, the goddess of the moon decided to grant you her mark?”  
  
“I like the notion of that,” Matt said, finding himself agreeing more to Chris’ interpretation. “But by what has become of me… I’m not exactly looking dead anymore, am I?”  
  
“Well, you’re not exactly a mortal man anymore either,” Chris said, jerking his chin to point at the body still on the wheelchair. Perhaps it is the morbidity of it, or because they have been friends for so long, both men share a laugh at Chris’ sense of humour.  
  
“How do you feel, Matt? Are things different now that you’ve turned to… this?” Chris waved his hand around, unable to precisely describe what Matt now is. The closest his mind could summarise is that he is now the same as what Dominic is.  
  
“Aside from feeling alive again, it feels like nothing has changed to me, but… it’s different at the same time. We’re standing on the same beach, but I can see more things that couldn’t be seen from my previous life.”  
  
Matt turns his head around, taking his surroundings in a new and completely different light.  
  
“What I’m seeing… is this how you see this world the whole time, Dominic?” Matt asked, to which Dominic confirms it with a nod.  
  
“So this is where we part then?” Chris asked. He had noticed that Alfie is awfully quiet ever since Matt started talking to Chris. He could only guess that his son is still taking the changes in while Chris has recovered remarkably fast. “Where you move on to another higher plane from here on out?”  
  
“Not precisely. But I’ll be around like Dominic was with me. Don’t worry, Chris,” Matt chuckled, his laughter full of life and youthfulness. “We’ll be seeing each other soon. Dominic and I will come to pick you up.”  
  
“And I’ll end up becoming what you are now? Like how Dominic did whatever magic he did with you?” Chris asked, eyebrow raised at this new information that he had only just been informed about.  
  
“Of course! If you wanted to, that is,” Matt confirmed before he quickly added the best sentence in. “But if you do want to, it would make me very happy to have you join us.”  
  
While Chris is an Anglican Christian that believes in the existence of Heaven, he is also not put off by the idea of ending up like what Matt has become, especially after seeing the process of it. At least for certain, he would have his best friend and a familiar environment to end up living.  
  
“Are you sure? Wouldn’t I be intruding on the two of you?”  
  
“Well, I can’t exactly live my new life spending it with Dominic all the time. It might turn into a bore for me or drive him crazy!”  
  
For some reason, that causes Chris to snort. And judging by the fond, exasperated look on Dominic’s face given to Matt, this may have not been the first time Matt has been talking about it to convince his lover to have a few more to join them.  
  
“I’d thought when my day of reckoning comes, dying and going to Heaven finally means peace and quiet. But then I would get bored of it without your company, wouldn’t I?” Chris said with a sigh after contemplating on such an option.  
  
“And Kelly can finally meet him when we come get her too so that you won’t be lonely spending time with me and Dominic! And your children can join too!” Matt said excitedly before he suddenly realises something that made him quickly sobered up. “But it’ll be awhile before we can do that. Years, actually. Being on this side now, I can actually see how Dominic knew how long I have left to live. I can see that you’ll live on for—”  
  
“Don’t try to reveal me that!” Chris cuts Matt off, putting his hand up. “And don’t even tell me about when Kelly or the rest of the children’s time comes. We’ll know it ourselves when it’s time, much like you did.”  
  
Matt nodded, agreeing to keep Chris out of the secret.  
  
“Still, it’ll be quite some time before we see each other again,” Matt said with a touch of melancholy in his voice. “I don’t want to think of this as a goodbye.”  
  
“It’s not going to be a goodbye, remember Matt?” Dominic said to Matt gently, finally coming to attention. “I told you before all those years ago. It’s not goodbye, it’s till we meet again. We wait until we come to meet them once more.”  
  
Comforted by those words, Matt returns his attention to Chris.  
  
“Well, I can’t delay you and Alfie any longer from returning home. Will you tell Kelly and the rest of the children of my departure?” Matt asked. “But don’t tell them I said goodbye. Tell them it’s till we meet again.”  
  
Chris nodded. “I will.”  
  
They looked at each other before Chris hugs his best and lifelong friend. It is a weird and interesting experience for Chris in hugging Matt in this new form that he is in. He feels physically solid to the touch, yet at the same time, it was like touching something that shouldn’t be solid and touchable but he is able to. It is a hard to describe feeling.  
  
When they pull away, Matt gives Chris a pat on his shoulder before he turns to Alfie. Looking at each other for a bit, Matt brings up a smile.  
  
“Come on, Alfie. It’ll be some time before I could hug you again,” he said, holding his arms out wide.  
  
And Alfie does approach his uncle, hugging him and feeling just as bewildered as Chris was at the sensation of touching and hugging what Chris presumes to be Matt’s spirit form. But all the same, they share a long hug before they pulled away.   
  
“You’ll come back to see me again when it’s my time, won’t you uncle?” Alfie asked.  
  
“Of course I will, Alfie,” Matt assured the younger man.  
  
Once Matt is back by Dominic’s side, the blond-haired spirit turns to Chris.  
  
“I’m glad we finally met, Christopher Wolstenholme,” Dominic starts. “Talking to Matt, I think you and I could have been friends as long as you have been with Matt.”  
  
“Thank you. Although I’m afraid that Matt might have exaggerated in what he said about me to you.”  
  
Dominic chuckled. “He didn’t exaggerate. But he certainly left a big impression on me about who you are and it isn’t a disappointment as you thought for me on finally meeting you.”  
  
“Well then,” Dominic clasped Matt’s hand to his and nods at Chris and Alfie. “Till we meet again, my friends.”  
  
“Till we meet again, Chris, Alfie!” Matt said, waving with his free hand as he and Dominic begin to glow brighter and brighter until their features become hard to see and all that Chris and Alfie can see are two humanoid-shaped forms melding into a single bright light before it bursts and dispersed into multiple tiny spheres of gold and silver lights that get blown away by the wind and eventually fade away in the distance.  
  
“Till we meet again,” Chris whispered under his breath, looking out at the stars and the sea.  
  
When Chris finally turns around, he sees Alfie already attending to Matt’s body, preparing to bring the body home and once they are home and well rested, to prepare for the announcement and funeral.  
  
They had a bit of trouble deciding whether to cover Matt’s face or not, but decided in the end to keep it uncovered. It would be more unnerving to cover over what is obviously now a corpse at night.  
  
“Father, where do you think he went off to?” his son asked quietly, hands now back on the handles of the wheelchair as he starts to push it back into the dirt path.  
  
Chris looked at his son and gave an amused face. “You didn’t figure it out? It was already obvious right in front of our eyes, Alfie.”  
  
“What’s your take of it all then?”  
  
Chris stares up at the stars. Billions of them shining from the sky, their twinkling bright lights hanging up there.  
  
“He went to join his beloved. To spend time with him,” Chris said. “And when our time comes, we’ll see them again.”  
  
And someday, years down the line, he will see them again. He fully believes that when the time comes, he will come to join his childhood friend on the same plane.


End file.
